If you haven’t noticed… The church is being exposed! I believe it is to be dismantled and rebuilt! And when I say “church” I’m not talking about four walls and a building, I’m talking about the body of Christ. “Christians”. Judgement starts in the house of God first. He can’t do what He needs to do in the world, while the church is in sin, self-absorption and idolatry, looking just like the world .
The body of Christ should be set apart, bearing the image of Christ , and while inspiring, encouraging and equipping. The focus should be on Christ Himself and The Kingdom of God, not our kingdom of daily selfies. Sorry, this is not that “seeker friendly” message. This is what the Lord has been showing me and I’ve been sitting on it for a quit a while now. It’s hard to share the truth sometimes.
I heard in my spirit , “Check your feed and I’ll show you your idols” …
I was like, ouch 😬! But I felt His heart in it instantly. It wasn’t harsh and mean, it was a burden to Him that we are so self-focused and in idolatry, idolizing something that’s not Him. It’s out of balance and I feel like He wants to recalibrate us.
To recalibrate is to calibrate something again. It’s when something gradually drifts off course and the navigator needs a fresh point of reference that is in an accurate alignment. He isn’t saying don’t post celebrations, special days, and things you are grateful for, but I do believe He is saying… “Check your feed, your heart, and repent if you have become your own idol”.
I have had to repent in the past for idolizing my children, because as parents we want the world for them and sometimes we spend way more time worrying, praying, fixing, and focusing on them then on their Creator that knows all things about them and for them. The same can happen when we continue to receive affirmation and attention from posting selfies. We become the focus and in other words an idol.
I believe this is what happened in this past season of “Celebrity Christianity”. He wants us to recognize this because His heart is for us to upgrade and level up in this new season. Where He is taking us and what He has planned can’t contain the same idols of yesterday. We need new wine for this new wineskin and what the church has been looking like in the past , well… it just can’t be that same thing in the days ahead.
When we apply biblical standards to the “selfie culture”, we have an immediate disconnect of values. The famous statement of John, in John 3:30 – “He must increase, but I must decrease” is in great conflict with the selfie obsession. The trouble is, people don’t see it. “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires”. (Gal. 5:24)
“Passions and desires” are described as “lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” (1 John 2”15-16) The “pride of life” certainly defines self-absorption. I read something that said “beware of creating a “selfie Christianity”. It was just confirmation of what I keep seeing over and over within the body of Christ.
Psalm 119:36 says, “incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain.” The true focus of the Bible is God and what He did and is doing and not us. He also says you shall have no other gods before me.
I honestly believe that this is why He keeps highlighting this to me, because it is grieving His heart.
How can we wholey and fully love God and continue to be infatuated with ourselves? How do we draw closer to Him when we have self-infatuation?
We, as the body of Christ, aka: Kingdom influencers, should be building one another up and equipping others to be successful, not fulfilling our own selfish gain and creating a following to see what our daily activity and achievements are. Who are we directing people to? True Christianity should NOT be a marketing plan or business strategy. People wanting to be seen, are not looking to direct people to GOD’S GLORY, they are walking in self Idolatry.
Idolatry is a landing strip for the enemy and He will jump on that strip as soon as it it built. But repentance and the blood of Jesus will wipe all of that away.
He didn’t come to condemn but He did come so that we could be set free! He wants ALL the Glory and praise and attention and He rightfully deserves it. I realize I will not be popular for this post… But I feel it is obedience to Him because He wants to be our first love and the focus.
2 Corinthians 5:14-15 ~ “For it is Christ’s love that fuels our passions and hold us tightly, because we are convinced that he has given his life for all of us. This means all died with him, so that those who live should no longer live self-absorbed lives but the lives that are poured out for him – the one who died for us and now lives again.”